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A couple of months back when we were discussing Tony’s data on snow density at various ski areas, I generated a plot of the numbers in his revised table for an easier visualization of the peak and distribution of the snow density. I never got around to posting it, but in response to some...

I was surprised to read about Lodge Theory in the October edition of Powder Magazine before hearing about it from a place like SkiVT-L, but they also have a website so I figured I'd pass it along for those folks at FT that like backcountry skiing and want to learn about their setup. It sounds...

It’s amazing to think of those elevations north of here having only 2 feet of snow on the ground during the winter, but I guess it speaks to how last season worked out in terms of snowfall. What snowpack depths would you normally expect to see in those locations? I suspect that our first three...

Like EMSC I’m a big fan of action shots; even with help from all the advances in modern photographic equipment they can still be difficult… but good ones are oh so good! I’m not sure about my “best” shots from the season, but I added a couple of my favorites and linked to a couple of honorable...

There’s no new snow to report here in Vermont yet, although as is usual for August, autumn-like temperatures are becoming more and more frequent throughout the region, and Mt. Washington already dipped below freezing a couple of weeks ago. I actually added this post because over at Eastern...

I’ve completed my 2009-2010 winter weather summary page for our location in Waterbury. All the material can be seen by clicking on the linked text for the page, and I’ve also included a short report on some of the highlights/lowlights below. Relative to the four years that we’ve been at this...

Scott, thanks for your incredibly thorough and informative input, I'm likely going to read your text at least a couple more times as I think about all the information. A note on your SkiVT-L links above: I've found that due to the way SkiVT-L is set up, if one is logged into the UVM listserv...

I can certainly relate to that, as we used to ski most of the other local mountains like MRG, SB, Jay, Stowe, and Smugg’s more frequently than Bolton. For the Burlington area, Bolton Valley is the closest lift-served skiing at about 30 minutes away, and we would occasionally visit for a day...

I wanted to follow up on this statement, because Tony mentioned it in an email discussion with Fred Lavenberg, who is involved with the data collection at the Mt. Mansfield Stake. Although I’d never picked up on it myself, Powderfreak, who is fairly attentive to what is reported at the stake...

Not having worked with the 8” rain gauges myself, or seen what the specific wind patterns might be at their location (I don’t even know whether or not they have a wind shield for their setup or feel that they need one), it’s difficult to say how much their gauge-based snow measurement system is...

OK, that clears things up a lot; at least we now know that measurements are taken off a hard surface so that snowpack compressibility is not an issue. However, your concern about potential differences between snow collection on a board, and snow collection in a bucket is warranted. I have...

There are a few interesting things to think about here with regard to the questions in Tony’s post: Airplane Gully in particular, the ability to ski steep slopes, and the consequences of places like Mt. Washington. I think they are all addressed in the text below, but as I was writing up the...

The Mount Washington Auto Road was finally open for business by the weekend of May 22nd – 23rd, but since E was out of town, Memorial Day weekend was our first opportunity for a ski trip. As always, weather was an important determinant in whether or not we would try to take the boys up the...

I actually don’t know that accumulations of new snow at the stake are reported on top of the old snow, it’s just one theory to explain why the numbers might come out so low. I’ve seen quotes from Powderfreak on how even getting just a double digit (as in 10 inches) accumulation of snow at the...

I sent out an email to Powderfreak yesterday to let him know about this thread, but delivery failed, and that's the only email I've ever used in our communications. So I sent him a private message through EasternUSwx.com, and I'm hoping that will get through. I'm sure he'll be very interested...

It's not a dumb question, it might be the core of what makes the snowfall numbers obtained from the Mt. Mansfield stake so low (just 230 inches of snowfall are reported at the stake annually according to Tony's website, when Stowe itself reports 333 inches at a similar elevation, Jay Peak to the...

That’s a really informative analysis Tony. It’s far more useful than simply total snow divided by total water, and it’s actually a necessity for ski locations that receive any sort of liquid precipitation if one wants to get a sense for typical snow densities. I do have one very large concern...

Outside of Alice’s Table, we only poked around the Tram Haus a bit, but it looked nice, especially relative to some of the older structures around the base area. Jumpin’ Jimmy and some of the other SkiVT-L guys took advantage of the Tram Haus lodging promotion that Jay was offering, and they...

She was really psyched to ski and practice Telemark turns in the powder, but I'm not sure how comfortable she would have been heading out into the storm alone, not really begin familiar with the trails etc. E also didn't feel comfortable having us wait in the car, just for her. I didn't mind...

Bolton Valley, VT 10MAY2010 With the way it continued to snow into Sunday evening, along with the expected cold temperatures, it was likely that Monday was going to feature more powder skiing. I headed up to Bolton Valley in the morning, and while there was no snow at the house (495’), I was...